Particle Interactions
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Research in particle physics came into sharp focus in July 2012, with experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) announcing the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson, the particle linked to the origin of mass. This discovery was front-page news around the world, and became a top trend on Twitter. As an STFC Public-Engagement Fellow, Cristina Lazzeroni aims to share the excitement of this type of research. She will do this by creating interactions - between University researchers, school children, their teachers and the broader public - and by presenting studies by the school children on an equal footing with results from the LHC. During each of the three years of her Fellowship, Cristina will invite Year 9-11 pupils from a different set of six schools to carry out a real particle-physics research project. Most of the projects are expected to be studies of cosmic rays, but projects involving computer simulation, and analysis of data collected at international experimental facilities, are also possible. The projects will be pupil-led, but will be closely followed by Cristina, working in collaboration with the pupils' physics teachers. Pupils will have the opportunity to present results to their peers at a schools conference, to be held at the University of Birmingham, and to the general public at Science Festivals. Broadening the scope of her Fellowship activities, Cristina will also give interactive talks at around 40 schools not involved in the project work, and will organise a series of particle-physics masterclasses for teachers.
Organisations
- University of Birmingham (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Institute of Physics (IOP) (Collaboration)
- SmallPeice Trust (Collaboration)
- Princes Trust (Collaboration)
- Brighton Science Festival (Collaboration)
- The Institute For Research In Schools (Collaboration)
- Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) (Collaboration)
- Thinktank (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Cristina Lazzeroni (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Lazzeroni C
(2016)
Particle Physics for Primary Schools
Pavlidou M
(2016)
Particle physics for primary schools-enthusing future physicists
in Physics Education
Lazzeroni C
(2021)
Teaching Science in Today's Society: The Case of Particle Physics for Primary Schools
in Universe
| Title | Artwork for exhibitions |
| Description | Several artworks produced for 6 consecutive years of exhibitions at the Royal Society Science Exhibitions from 2011 to 2016 |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | artwork was reused for several other events, and for publicity, even by CERN |
| Title | Demonstrations for exhibitions |
| Description | Several demonstrations of particle physics concepts and methodologies. From 2011 to 2016. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | Demonstrations were reused by several partners. Increased visibility of particle research, and increased visibility and leadership of creators. |
| Description | This grant is to enable me to spend 20% of my time on Public Engagement. There are 3 projects, all aiming at creating or re-inforcing interactions between students/public and scientists. The first project concerns exhibitions and large-scale events where I organise and stage particle demonstrations and displays, in collaboration with local universities; in doing so, I introduce and train when necessary more scientists to outreach activities. The second project is focussed on schools, that have the chance to join real research in cosmic rays as part of an international collaboration of schools. The third is about teachers training in Particle physics topics. |
| Exploitation Route | Hopefully these activities will inspire others. They will have a long-lasting impact on students and teachers, and inspire the general public towards fundamental research. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | More teachers and organizations, like IoP and Phillip Allen, are interested in my teacher programme. I submitted an EU grant in collaboration with CERN and other EU nations on teacher training as part of Horizon2020 which would enhance the reach of my activities. The outcome from school projects and exhibitions have been used to continuosly improve outreach activities and scientists training in outreach in several universities across UK. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | summer studentships |
| Amount | £4,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2014 |
| End | 09/2017 |
| Description | HiSPARC and IRIS |
| Organisation | The Institute For Research In Schools |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration with IRIS to make HiSPARC a wider project on the national level |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration with IRIS to make HiSPARC a wider project on the national level |
| Impact | HiSPARC project has become part of IRIS portfolio and IRIS is supporting teachers and students in the project |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Science Museums |
| Organisation | Brighton Science Festival |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Collaborator Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Impact | several events, demonstrations, and artwork, and literature material |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Science Museums |
| Organisation | Institute of Physics (IOP) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Learned Society |
| PI Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Collaborator Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Impact | several events, demonstrations, and artwork, and literature material |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Science Museums |
| Organisation | Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Collaborator Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Impact | several events, demonstrations, and artwork, and literature material |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Science Museums |
| Organisation | Princes Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Collaborator Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Impact | several events, demonstrations, and artwork, and literature material |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Science Museums |
| Organisation | Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Collaborator Contribution | Several events for general public, schools and teachers organised together |
| Impact | several events, demonstrations, and artwork, and literature material |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | SmallPeiceTrust |
| Organisation | SmallPeice Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are designing online engagement activities together |
| Collaborator Contribution | We are designing online engagement activities together |
| Impact | We are designing online engagement activities together, in physics and in particular particle physics, at primary and secondary school level |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Brighton Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Particle physics stand and demonstrations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Cafe scientific |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 40 people attended and had a wide discussion people were much more interested in particle physics afterwards |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Cheltenam Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | exhibit on cosmic rays |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Daytime entertainment talk at Royal Society Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | about 400 people attended talk and discussion afterwards very positive feedback received by audience, who was enthusiastic |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Exhibit at British Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | about 100 students tried the game and liked it a lot, and gave us feedback for improvements. Teachers said they would be willing to play game at school as educational tool. Students also enjoyed the large variety of other demonstrations we offered and engaged with us about particle research. students said they would be willing to pay and buy the game. teachers said they would be willing to use game at school as educational tool for particle physics and business studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2014 |
| Description | Exhibit at the Royal Society Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We were flooded by interested people at our stand (around 15,000 every year). Several members of the public contacted us afterwards for more information. I was asked to bring the stand to many other national science events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | HiSparc Research for Schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Research activity for schools on cosmic rays. Build a detector and analyze the data |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | Institute of Physics: Physics in the City event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition on cutting edge particle research at Birmingham New Street Train Station, co-organised with IoP Midlands |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Lectures at IoP CPD event for teachers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 15 teachers training per year per workshop. Three workshops. After my talk, I discussed with the IoP and we decided to enlarge the scheme. Several teachers decided to hire my equipment and my teaching resources. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | Lectures at Teacher CPD event on Modern Physics, organised by Philip Allan Events, part of Hodder Education |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 15 teachers training The teachers agreed that they knew more after the lectures; they asked for more resources to be provided to them via a website; some invited me to give talks at their schools; others decided to hire my equipment for practical demonstrations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | Manchester Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | exhibit on particle detectors and matter-antimatter at the Manchester Science Festival |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Manchester Science festival, Brighton Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Exhibits on particle physics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | Particle Physics Workshop for teachers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Particle physics workshop for teachers at CERN |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | Pint of Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Pint of Science debate on particle physics at ThinkTank Museum in Birmingham |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Research at the Heart of Brum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | part of exhibition on cutting edge research performed at the University of Birmingham. The event took place at New Street train station |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Royal Society MP and Civil Servant pairing scheme |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I had a week each with MP and Civil servant in Parliament i am still in touch with MP and Civil Servant for discussions on science and science related subjects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | Sessions for teachers at ASE annual conference on quark model and feynman diagrams; and on particle detection with cloud chamber and cosmic telescope |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 13 teachers from europe every workshop and every year. three workshops every year several teachers asked for my resources to be used in their class teaching |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | Talk and exhibit at British Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 200 people attended the talk, asked question and had discussion afterwards. same number visit the exhibit. schools asked about borrowing detectors for school demo. teachers invited me to give further talks at their schools. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2014 |
| Description | Talk on Mysteries of the Early Universe, general programme, British Science Festival 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk was followed by very lively discussion session with many questions from the audience I have submitted a similar format event for consideration at other science festivals and events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Talks at local schools (around 10 yearly) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talks always sparks lively discussions and questions. I got more and more invitations, and a few schools approached me to do after-school science projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 |
| Description | participation to Big Bang Fair (2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Particle physics exhibit on antimatter |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | radio interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | radio interview for italian channel audience was high and I got good review |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| Description | talk at Science week at school in birmingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 50 students attended and had discussion afterwards school asked me to visit regularly to have a extra-curriculum science activity |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |